Wilson the best effect of ‘Enemy Lines’

Geoff Carter

Friday, Nov. 30, 2001 | 9:50 a.m.

"Behind Enemy Lines" requires the viewer to watch several other films. The film borrows heavily against every military film of the past two decades -- "Top Gun," "Uncommon Valor," "Saving Private Ryan," even "Rambo" -- but you don't need to have seen all or even any of them. Rather, you need to have seen all of Owen Wilson's comedies, to fully appreciate the solid performance he gives in this otherwise standard war yarn.

There's no denying that Wilson is a born comedian -- the real question is which planet he was born on. He has a handsome face that's capable of no end of goofy expressions, the presence of an offbeat rock star (think Beck, not Bowie) and a way of delivering dialogue that's equal parts Robert Redford and Carl Sagan. He always seems to be outside -- as if he just wandered onto the set while the real star of the picture was at lunch, and snaked the plum part away.

In "Lines," Wilson steals the Val Kilmer or Tom Cruise role, and changes it for the better. He plays Lieutenant Chris Burnett, a naval navigator who's bored by routine, disillusioned with the service and at odds with his commanding officer, Admiral Riegert (Gene Hackman). He wants to fly combat missions; Riegert wants him to better understand his duty. When Burnett's jet is shot down over Bosnia, both characters get their wish.

While the jet crash scene is visually engaging and truly harrowing, Wilson is the film's most durable special effect. His easygoing demeanor turns desperate and vicious at the drop of a hat, and his murmured asides are something else. Right at the beginning, he mocks a cliched montage of a fighter jet being readied for takeoff by gabbing on about how a good pilot could have saved Richie Valens. Any other actor would rush those lines in anticipation of the moment he gets to draw his guns, but Wilson gives them weight.

As a result, Burnett is fully humanized and you feel every moment of his ordeal. When he hides from a malevolent tracker (Vladmir Maskov), you hide with him. When he runs through the war-torn Balkans, dodging gunfire and hiding in mass graves, you feel as if your chest might burst. He's no hero -- just a regular guy with training and a Richie Valens obsession.

Wilson's intensity is complemented by a few other sharp performances. While Hackman has played this kind of role before (see the aforementioned "Uncommon Valor"), he makes Riegert more complex than David Veloz and Zak Penn's script likely made him. Gabriel Macht makes a credible turn as Stackhouse, Burnett's co-pilot. And Mashkov, as the nameless tracker, is a chilling presence -- tough, remorseless and unstoppable.

Unfortunately, the film's look detracts from its performances. Director John Moore has too much fun with rapid-fire editing, whiplash camera pans and slow-motion explosions -- the no man's land of Jerry Bruckheimer's cruddy oeuvre. Watching Wilson escape that hostile territory makes "Lines" worthwhile.